


Alone

by AwkwardSquiid



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: AHA THATS A TAG, Angst, Ford Pines Needs a Hug, Im tired, Interdimensional Travel, Loneliness, Spot The Reference, honestly its 2 am right now, i mean of course its angst, im using it., my tags are pointless i just go buck wild in them, paradoxes, somewhat of a character study, there are probably meta references in this, why am I doing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 01:13:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16186994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwkwardSquiid/pseuds/AwkwardSquiid
Summary: Life as a traveler through dimensions, trillions of space-time miles away from home, is a challenging way to live. Not to mention even harder when an all-powerful chaos god is constantly chasing you.Ford winds up in a dimension of darkness where all he has for comfort is himself and a few startling revelations to boot.





	Alone

**Author's Note:**

> this is honestly the first time i've posted anything for GF, and seeing as the fandom is still going strong for it, i figured i might as well treat myself to a little short story on it! i love Ford and so i decided to make...whatever this is.  
> it will probably make no coherent sense and i am sorry but have it anyway.

The multiverse was lonely.

Of course, it didn’t really seem like it at first.  _ Most _ of the dimensions Ford ( _ was chased to _ ) visited were populated by some manner of species capable of coherent thought, and even if they didn’t know each other’s language, they universally understood the meaning of “help”. He knew about six pointless interdimensional languages by now as well as the omni-universal phrase for “where is the bathroom”.

If he could have just  _ stayed _ somewhere, somewhere nice and with people he could at least  _ learn _ to understand, maybe this eternal loneliness wouldn’t pursue him with such vigor.

He’d tried to stay for too long once.

Only once.

And then he’d opened his eyes but hadn’t been awake, had seen the face of the Cipher blinking at him with glee, and in a voice that came from all directions and sounded like a million of  _ him _ speaking at once made a demand that set a chill in Ford’s bones.

_ LEAVE OR THEY DIE, SIXER. _

Ford learned from that day on that the Cipher knew exactly what he was doing at all times and only let him stay as long as  _ he _ wanted him to. He was a god of the multiverse and  _ he knew it _ , a Power so strong that Ford felt hopeless to struggle against it. His pursuer had made one thing clear: for the rest of his life, Ford would never know peace again.

_ beware the beast with just one eye _

Running had been Ford’s only option. He seemed to ( _ be led to _ ) stumble upon wormholes through dimensions at exactly the right time, or sometimes was even accidentally pushed into them. By now he sensed a pattern in it. He knew when the day came. He knew when Fate decided it was his time to leave.

Stanford Pines would never know peace again.

It was fleeting, futile, every dimension he entered with different degrees of hope, ranging from utter hopeless to the smallest ray of blue sky through clouds. For a moment radio static filled Ford’s head as the thoughts triggered a memory, and a song feebly began to play in his mind, one he remembered hearing once over the radio.

 

_ please tell us why _

_ you had to hide away for- _

 

More radio static. Ford was almost positive he was losing his mind now.

One might have wondered why he was so deeply lost in thought. And he would have answered without speaking, for he couldn’t speak. The (Cipher) Fates had decided to shake up the dimensions a bit and Ford was hopelessly, utterly lost, completely at the expense of his captor’s whim and will.

He’d heard of a dimension where you lost four of the five senses. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily), Ford had now learned something: the dimension, that he had named the Lost Dimension, eliminated all senses except touch.

His hands were wrapped around himself, icy cold. He was curled into a fetal position, floating in an empty, blank void, where gravity was both existent and nonexistent, where perhaps there was a world to see but was blind to his mortal eye, where up was down and down was up and you faced your greatest fears with nothing but your own hands to hold.

It was ironic, really. No sound, no sight, no smell, no taste, leaving you no comfort but your own two hands and your ragged breath against the roof of your mouth. It eliminated  _ just _ enough hope to be torturous but not deadly.

The Cipher decided how long Ford stayed here. He knew he did and the Cipher knew he knew. He was the  _ god _ of this dimension and Ford was nothing to him, a whim and a temporary amusement before he shot him back out a wormhole and ignored him until Ford got comfortable again.

That was how Bill worked. 

_ That’s how he wants you to think he works. _

Ford knew better and Bill knew that he knew better.

Bill’s greatest power was his greatest weakness and Ford knew it. The ability to enter a mind and invade a mindscape was easy enough for the dream demon but by doing so he opened up doors for himself that should always be left closed. Bill had been in Ford’s head, but it worked the other way around, too.

It was a paradox. Everything was a paradox here; a question that could never be solved, an infinite source of “why”. A loop- one weakness for knowledge of another, exposing each other in a constant circle. Sharing a mind had one repercussion that was the Cipher’s weakness.

Everything that he knew about Ford, Ford knew about him.

_ That _ was Bill’s downfall. The realization of it struck him- perhaps he knew how to defeat him, perhaps he’d  _ always _ known, ever since the demon had entered his mind in the first place. By sharing headspace one knew everything about the other. There was no privacy, no restraint. It was like having a roommate but with no walls or dividers. 

His greatest weakness was  _ himself _ .

Bill WAS a paradox.

Still curled up in the inky expanse, Ford merely listened as his thoughts passed by like a flowing river entirely beyond his control. Reality was altered here; what once felt real was now unreal, fever dreams were suddenly sane and everything seemed to blend together. He suspected he knew why- Time did not reach to this forbidden, terrible place.

But then, from the darkness and despite the total lack of sound, there was a Voice.

_ THAT’S AWWWWFUL CLEVER, FORDSIE. _

Ford didn’t react; after all, how could he? He had nowhere to go, nothing to do, no way to respond. All he did was slowly curl up on himself, eyes shut tight even though he was just as blind with them open, trying to ignore the ever-familiar voice that spoke into his mind.

_ IN FACT, I REALLY FIND IT FUNNY HOW MUCH THOUGHT YOU’RE PUTTING INTO THIS. _

_ I DIDN’T KNOW YOU  _ CARED _. _

Ford tried to think back a sentence at the Voice- maybe something sharp and witty, or even desperately pleading. But nothing happened. His mind suddenly became like the void itself; dark and blank, filled with nothing and everything and the singularity of the Voice itself.

It was blocking out his ability to think entirely.

_HONESTLY, I THOUGHT THIS LITTLE SURPRISE WOULD DIM YOUR HOPES A BIT MORE,_ the (Cipher) Voice continued, sounding a little glum. _BUT IT SEEMS LIKE THE MORE_ ** _ALONE_** **_TIME_** _YOU GET WITH YOUR BIG BRAIN, THE EASIER YOU WORK THINGS OUT, HUH?_

Ford tried to clench his hands. They did nothing.

_ GUESS WE’LL HAVE TO FIX THAT. _

There was a snap, like two inanimate fingers clicking together with an unnaturally loud  _ pop _ , and suddenly he was able to think again. His lungs expanded and drew in precious air, sweeter than he’d ever tasted, and soft light prodded gently at his eyelids. 

Another dimension, another day. He was free.

And the tiny bit of hope he’d once clung to so desperately had now grown into a gentle flame as an idea began to blossom. The thought that maybe, just maybe, the belief of Bill’s own invincibility had been the very mental obstacle Ford had been striving to overcome.

In order to beat the evil one first must believe it  _ can _ be beaten.

And it could be.

 

 

  
gsrh rhm'g levi


End file.
